We’re a few weeks away from the last date finalized by the studio for the release of the highly-anticipated Wonder Woman 1984 which is scheduled to release on December 25th, 2020 for Christmas. And the plan was to put the film on HBO Max after its theatrical debut during early January 2021.
The fate of WW1984 was hanging by a thin thread since the Covid-19 pandemic. The film was postponed from its initial release from June 5th to August 14th then again to October 2nd and now finally to December 25th. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 cases are spiking at alarming rates across the country. Warner Bros. is currently facing another wave of the widespread shutdown, especially in the major urban cities which rake in the majority of the theatrical business.
A traditional theatrical release will definitely support the exhibitors who are on the edge of collapse at the moment. And with the film going on to their streaming site will help HBO Max boost its subscriber base which is staggering to build an audience large enough to compete against Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+.
Warner Media reported in its third-quarter that HBO Max had 8.6 million activations, with 38 million subscribers to HBO and HBO Max combined. It did exceed their expectations but not large enough to match up to its competitors. A blockbuster like WW1984 will be the biggest draw for the studio. If you see their competitor made it big with Hamilton (Disney+) and The Old Guard (Netflix), and WW1984 will be their big-ticket.
With this news, one thing is confirmed that WW1984 will have a traditional theatrical release and won’t be entirely pushed to HBO Max. Now let’s just wait and watch if WW1984 releases on December 25th as planned or it’s getting pushed again to another date in Summer 2021.
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